270 Research Institutions Set Loose to Speed Market EconomyGovernment officials are urging research institutions, like other enterprises, to operate as businesses so they can speed up the commercialization of new technology findings.Beginning in October, the State will require China's 270 government-subsidized research institutions to support themselves. Getting these institutions to support themselves in the market economy is a significant step towards reforming science and technology administration, said Huang Qitao, a senior official with the Ministry of Science and Technology. Huang spoke at a press conference Friday in Beijing. Technology contributes little now to economic growth in China, as the previous planned economy isolated research institutes' discoveries from enterprises that could develop the information, ministry sources said. The 270 institutions, previously attached to cabinet-level administrations, could become technology firms or affiliate with universities. The Institute of Science and Technology Information of China, a government-subsidized institution, has pioneered this sort of change, said Lin Quan, secretary-general of the Ministry of Science and Technology. The institute's economic data division has become a shareholding company, called Wanfang Data Co Ltd, Lin announced at the press conference. Wanfang Data Co will give technological information to domestic and overseas firms, financial and investment organizations and research institutions, said company director Zhu Wei. "Wanfang Data Company has set a good example for government-subsidized institutions to free themselves from government administrations. It will fuel the development of China's information industry,'' said Shang Yong, director of the ministry's Department for Policy, Regulation and System Reform. |
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